Office 365 Vs. Google Apps: Advantage Microsoft

Is Microsoft Office 365 ready to rumble with the ease of use and lower cost of archrival Google Apps? Consider this point-by-point comparison for enterprises.

Google is far from the only rival to Microsoft Office 365, but it is the biggest Web-only option. Here's are the key areas where each vendor shines (for more details, see informationweek.com/ 1305/office365).

>> Existing relationships, Microsoft: Exchange is the email server behind more than 300 million enterprise mailboxes, of which 76% are on-premises, says Radicati Group. Google claims more than 3 million companies use Google Apps for Business.

>> Getting started, Microsoft: The Office 365 beta setup is fast, and the administrative console provides clear, task-oriented options and resources. Sign-up for Google Apps for Business requires a domain-ownership verification that assumes your company has a website and that you work with the site administrator.

>> Familiar interfaces, Microsoft: Office 365's small-business and pricer enterprise subscriptions include Office Web Apps--Web-based clients that run much like Office software, though with fewer bells and whistles. Google Apps blunts the familiarity argument a bit by letting you use Outlook with Gmail servers, but don't expect tight integration with other Microsoft apps.

>> Rich docs and offline editing, Microsoft: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint need a separate subscription, but there's a lot of integration with Office 365. Google says Docs won't displace Office uses that need rich formatting or complex Excel macros, but says such cases are a minority. Until full HTML5 support arrives later this year, Google Apps aren't usable offline.

>> Mobility, Google: Office 365 works with Windows Phone, iPhone/iPad, Symbian, Android, and BlackBerry. Email's not generally a problem on any device. But with other apps, why reserve the "best experience" (device-native) for Windows Phone, when the iPhone and Android dominate?

>> Reliability, Google. Both vendors promise greater than 99.9% uptime, but Google includes planned maintenance outages in that, Microsoft doesn't. No vendor is immune to outages, but Google has a public status dashboard that shows sizable outages of more than 10 minutes. Microsoft reports service-level data to customers but doesn't post it.

>> Cost, Google. Microsoft is going way off list prices, from what we hear from customers, but Google's starting list price is lower.

>> Hybrid use, Microsoft. Microsoft makes it easier if you want some capabilities on-premises and some in the cloud, with the same administrative interfaces and tools for both.

>> Conclusion: Google has much to offer, especially if you do a lot of online collaboration and don't have much need for rich Excel and Word docs. But given Office 365's business-tuned options, it's Microsoft's game to lose. The test, though, will be in the execution. --Doug Henschen ([email protected])

We welcome your comments on this topic on our social media channels, or [contact us directly] with questions about the site.